Interesting problem with solution

[fubard]

1995 fORD Taurus 3.0 OHV W/ABS...265000KMs


HELLO FORD TAURUSERS! It's been a while since I've posted here That's due to my 1995 Taurus being virtually trouble free for about 2-3 years now. My most recent experince was having to replace both rear calipers & rotors. Not too bad of a job .I also replaced the front strut bars to get rid of the clunk clunk, which it did !

A couple days ago my wife experienced a no start at Walmart( How prophetic !) . I came there after work and it started right up except for a bit of burbling(hunting) . I immediately ass-u-med it was a failing fuel pump which I replaced...nasty job . So another job well done ! The wife drives into town and I get a call later that the engine just stopped. Fortuneately she was able to get it off the road. I arrived and it wouldn't start at all not even a f*rt. We left it there overnite , about 1 mile away from home. In the AM (today) we went down and tried it again and it started right up. We drove it home to the driveway and I started picking at it. I found a totally groady disto cap. In fact the center lead pulled out when I removed the lead!! .No biggie...I replaced the rotor , cap and the coil to disto wire since it metered as open !! It started right up ..and died about 3 seconds later and wouldn't start...how sweet a father's day gift !

I metered the coil and it checked out ok. I went to check that the coil was getting a signal from the disto and *poof it started right up and ran great! So now what? It was a failing part but not totslly failed. With the car running I started tapping the coil with the back of a large screwdriver and it kept running.I wiggled all the wires ....ok. THEN I tapped the ignition module...lo and behovering the car died!!! I tried this several times with the car running and it would always fail !! Yay me!! I started to remove the module BUT they sure do recess those tiny bolts don;t they ??!! B*$T*RD$ SO what to do ??!!
I know many have probably figured it out but here goes. I removed the air cleaner and the coil. That gave me enough room to drill out the recessed holes in the module allowing me to get a small socket down in there to remove the bolts. I now have it off and may pull the back off to checkfor a loose connection. BUT I will replace it with a new one ...well new to me . I find it difficult to put a $150 PART INTO A $900 CAR! When I can hopefully get one from the wrecker for a whole lot less!

I hope this will solve this intermittent no start/die problem !


I should mention that during all this I had my commuter car(1998 metro 3 cyl) to drive to the shop for parts. Now when I start it , it doesn't idle right. It seems to be idling low. What next??